Hi Everyone,

At approximately three a.m. on Sunday, October 11th, Jim Stasz and Ed Boyd kicked off the eighth "Sitting on Our Assateague" Big Sit. Nocturnal migration was slow, but persistence netted several of the more expected night migrants. It was cool, clear, and breezy, and the skies offered more for the astronomer than the ornithologist. It wasn't long before night migrants began to arrive by car, and as dawn approached, it was clear that some sort of birder staging event was underway. As the first nearly usable light fell on gulls and cormorants, the gossiping and lies were suspended intermittently for the mission at hand. It was time to count birds.

The heron flight started slowly, but as always, there was excitement in the air. The first of many large V's of cormorants passed. The first Myrtles flit by overhead. Suddenly we observe the day's first major rarity - a grinning Matt Hafner, a surprise vagrant from Florida. Amidst hugs and handshakes are hilarious realizations about double-meanings of comments made via cell phone. We realize that Matt is the mysteriously un-named RED-NECKED PHALAROPE finder in Walter Ellison's recent Kent Co. post. Matt's response to the previous day's text saying "Those would have been county birds..." becomes much more funny. 

The Big Sit is a blast as always, and the action is steady for the duration. The good birds are complemented by the good company and conversation. We enjoy a fair flight of warblers that slow concedes reasonable diversity. Several first-of-season waterfowl - Brant, scoters, and American Wigeon - pass by in small flocks. With so many sharp eyes, easily missed species drop one by one. 

The crowd pleaser of this year's Big Sit is a Northern Flicker that spends the entire morning ALMOST committing to making the jump to the mainland. Over and over it boldly sallies forth in a strong undulating flight to the west. Over and over it veers slowly back to the left and, yeah.. no... I don't think so. Over and over the circle cheers and shouts encouragement and over and over we feign exaggerated disappointment.

The unexpected highlight comes out of nowhere when we receive a phone call from Hans Holbrook, who has wandered off into the campground in the late morning. He'd found a flock of feeding waders that included two dark ibis. One of them had obvious red irises and looked good for a hatch-year WHITE-FACED IBIS. In a warm-up exercise for the Rarity Roundup, nearly the entire outfit breaks ranks and heads to campsite A19. Only Stasz, Hafner, and a couple others hold down the fort. Soon over a dozen birders had scopes trained on the two ibis. The bird in question had obvious, "glowing" red irises, light pink facial skin, and an overall paler appearance. Everyone still present at the Big Sit was able to see the bird, which is a very significant record. This was the first for Assateague Island and Maryland's first fall record. In fact, it was the first record for Maryland outside of April/May. Marshall Iliff told Hafner that this was only the second record for
 the East Coast in October, the other record being a specimen. Well done, Hans! Did I mention he picked the bird out with bins?

Photo:
http://www.billhubick.com/images2/white-faced_ibis_hy_assateague_md_20091011_01.jpg

The Big Sit tallied a respectable 86 species by about 12:30 p.m., when birders dispersed across the state. It was the third best year for the Big Sit on Assateague after 103 in 2003 and 91 in 2004. Here's the full list, followed by some "Sitting on Our Assateague" stats supplied by Hafner.

Snow Goose--480
ROSS'S GOOSE--1 with flock of 30 Snow Geese
Brant (Atlantic)--22
Canada Goose--95
Wood Duck--4 distant flybys
AMERICAN WIGEON--6; first of season for most if not all of us
American Black Duck--13
Mallard--1
Northern Pintail--13
Greater/Lesser Scaup--2
Surf Scoter--8
Black Scoter--7
Common Loon--4
Brown Pelican--11
Double-crested Cormorant--2305; fairly rigorous effort to count all flocks by at least 5s or 10s.
Great Blue Heron--15
Great Egret--1. * NOTE: On 10/12 I was watching the island roost to the south and counted nearly 300 white egrets flying directly west toward South Point at dawn. Many of these were Great Egrets. Clearly this happened on the Big Sit as well. 
Snowy Egret--6
Little Blue Heron--1
Tricolored Heron--13
Black-crowned Night-Heron--6; high-flying
Black Vulture--3
Turkey Vulture--120; highest count on the horizon by Ed Boyd
Osprey--3
Bald Eagle--4
Northern Harrier--1; distant spot by Matt/John.
Cooper's Hawk--1 over South Point
Red-tailed Hawk--1
Merlin--3
Peregrine Falcon--1
Killdeer--2
American Oystercatcher--5; distant flybys off South Point spotted by Dan Haas
DUNLIN--1; heard calling and then spotted flying by
Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher--1; distant flyby, a good pick by Matt
American Woodcock--1 pre-dawn
Laughing Gull--85
Ring-billed Gull--7
Herring Gull (American)--78
Great Black-backed Gull--9
gull sp.--100
Caspian Tern--7
Forster's Tern--1 off South Point
Royal Tern--13
Belted Kingfisher--2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker--1; flyby migrant
Downy Woodpecker--1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted)--2
Blue Jay--2 over South Point
Fish Crow--400 leaving the large roost
Tree Swallow--1
Brown Creeper--1
Carolina Wren--2
House Wren--1
Golden-crowned Kinglet--5
Ruby-crowned Kinglet--2
Gray-cheeked Thrush--3
Swainson's Thrush--5(?); night migrants before I arrived
American Robin--21
Gray Catbird--3
Northern Mockingbird--1
Brown Thrasher--2
European Starling--37
Cedar Waxwing--39
Nashville Warbler--1; great views as it perched in the dead snag beside the water
Northern Parula--1
Cape May Warbler--4
Black-throated Blue Warbler--1 female
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)--125
Black-throated Green Warbler--4
Palm Warbler--4
Palm Warbler (Western)--5
Blackpoll Warbler--5
"Baypoll" Warbler--5
Wilson's Warbler--1
warbler sp.--20
Eastern Towhee--2
Savannah Sparrow (Eastern)--3
Song Sparrow--1
Swamp Sparrow--1
White-throated Sparrow--1
Northern Cardinal--3
Rose-breasted Grosbeak--1 night migrant
Indigo Bunting--2
Red-winged Blackbird--39
Eastern Meadowlark--2; fresh, neatly patterned plumage; perched at tops of trees and heard making flight calls.
Brown-headed Cowbird--8
Baltimore Oriole--3
Purple Finch--5; two perched nicely in the dead snag. Others flew over, calling
House Finch--3
American Goldfinch--4

OUTSIDE THE CIRCLE

Red-eyed Vireo (1), Semipalmated Plover (1), Least Sandpiper (4).

NEW CUMULATIVE TOTAL: 153

NEW AVERAGE: 80.75

WORST MISSES:

Boat-tailed Grackle (7/8), Mourning Dove (6/8)

NEW SPECIES

Cooper's Hawk, Wilson's Warbler

ONLY THE SECOND TIME DETECTED IN EIGHT BIG SITS:

Ross's Goose, American Wigeon, Downy Woodpecker, Nashville Warbler, Swamp Sparrow

ONLY THE THIRD TIME DETECTED IN EIGHT BIG SITS:

Wood Duck, American Oystercatcher, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Blue Jay, House Wren, Northern Parula, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Baltimore Oriole

STILL NEVER MISSED

Common Loon, Brown Pelican, DC Cormorant, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Tricolored Heron, Turkey Vulture, Canada Goose, Am. Black Duck, Osprey, Peregrine Falcon, Laughing Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Caspian Tern, Royal Tern, Forster's Tern, Belted Kingfisher, Tree Swallow, Carolina Wren, Gray Catbird, European Starling, Myrtle Warbler, Western Palm Warbler, Red-winged Blackbird. 

NON-AVIAN:

Bat sp., Sika Deer, Eastern Cottontail, two Red Fox scoped on South Point, Bottle-nosed Dolphins (~8); Monarch (12), Common Buckeye (3), American Lady (1), Cloudless Sulfur (1).

OBSERVERS:

...included Stan Arnold, Betsy Bangert, Ed Boyd, Jim Brighton, Mike Burchett, Ed Carlson, John Dennehy, Jen Elmer, Tom Feild, Kevin Graff, Dan Haas, Matt Hafner, Hans Holbrook, John Hubbell, Bill Hubick, David Kidwell, Mikey Lutmerding, Peter Osenton, Jim Stasz, Mike Walsh. 
I know I'm probably forgetting a couple people - sorry!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE REST OF THE DAY

Vaughn North: Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (1), American Bittern (1).

Taylor's Landing: American Bittern (1), Clapper Rail (1 flushed), Saltmarsh Sparrow (9), Seaside Sparrow (3).

Truitt's Landing: Green-winged Teal (80), Merlin (1), Saltmarsh Sparrow (2).

Good birding!

Bill

Bill Hubick
Pasadena, Maryland

http://www.billhubick.com